An 11-year-old Boston boy spent an entire day in September 1924 searching for his missing mother and siblings, only to have his search end in the most devastating place imaginable: the city morgue.
Theodore Mara and his eight-year-old brother, Henry, had been away from home on Sunday visiting their father, who was a patient at a hospital in Mattapan. When the boys returned, they learned that their mother, Helen Mara, had gone for an automobile ride with their younger siblings (Jennie, age nine; Elizabeth, age seven; and George, age two). A family friend, Michael Dobroval, was driving.
When the group failed to return that night, Theodore and Henry stayed with a boarder. By the following morning, Theodore was desperately trying to locate his family, visiting his grandmother and aunt and making telephone calls in search of news.
Meanwhile, neighbors had read about a deadly automobile accident in the newspaper and began to fear the worst.
The previous night, Dobroval’s car had reached the dead end of Dorchester Avenue and failed to make the turn. The automobile crashed through a bridge railing and plunged into Fort Point Channel, where the water was about 14 feet deep. All five occupants drowned, trapped beneath the submerged vehicle.
After hours of recovery efforts involving Navy divers and a wrecking lighter, the bodies were brought to the mortuary.
Lad’s Search for Mother, Brother, and Two Sisters Ended at Morgue
BOSTON. — A frightened 11-year-old boy, Theodore Mara, who had been spending all day trying to find his mother, two sisters and a brother, last night was taken to the Northern Mortuary and there identified as his missing relatives the bodies of four of the victims of the automobile which Sunday night crashed through a bridge and plunged into Fort Point Channel.
Its five occupants were drowned. The fifth victim was identified earlier as that of Michael Dobroval.
The mother, Mrs. Helen Mara, and her children, Jennie, age 9; Elizabeth, age 7, and George, age 2, were returning to their home in the Charleston District, with Dobroval, a family friends, when the accident occurred.
Theodore and a younger brother, Henry, age 8, had gone to visit their father at a hospital in Mattapan on Sunday morning. Returning home, they were told that their mother and others had gone for an automobile ride.
When late at night no one had returned home, a boarder took them into his room to pass the night.
Police Notified by Neighbors
Yesterday morning Theodore visited his grandmother and an aunt, but found no news of his mother. Neighbors, reading of the accident in a newspaper, and knowing that Mrs. Mara and her children had not returned, informed the police.
A patrolman found Theodore again attempting to reach his grandmother by telephone at a nearby store.
The boy went to the morgue and made the identification. Theodore and Henry were taken last night to the home of a neighbor.
The accident occurred when Dobroval was unable to turn his car at the dead end of Dorchester Avenue and the machine went through the railing of the bridge to the channel.
The water was 14 feet deep at that point and the five passengers were pinned beneath the automobile. The car was raised only after hours of work by a Navy wrecking lighter, working under the direction of Navy divers.
Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. September 23, 1924.
